Essentia Health registered nurse logs over 900 volunteer hours

On most evenings, after a full day as a registered nurse in the ICU at Essentia Health-Fargo, Darian Slama's second shift begins caring for her four-legged patients.

Sometimes, it's a pregnant rescue dog pacing the living room or supporting dogs recovering from amputations, pneumonia or joint surgery sprawled. "I grew up wanting to be a veterinarian," Slama said, "I've just found a way to still make that part of me fit."

Slama is so dedicated that during fiscal year 2025, she logged 907 volunteer hours at Save-a-Life boot camps, Essentia Health stroke awareness events and Homeward Animal Shelter. That's a 555-hour lead over the second top volunteer at Essentia — and Slama does it all on top of her career as a registered nurse, doctoral student, clinical instructor and serving in the Army National Guard.

She began volunteering with Homeward in October 2021 after buying a home with a fenced yard. With two black labs — Tank and Winter, both 5 — and two more dogs belonging to her fiancé, adding a foster (or several) to the mix felt like a natural extension of her lifelong love of animals. What started as fostering quickly grew into caring for some of the shelter's most medically complex cases.

Slama's medical background makes her uniquely equipped for the job. She administers fluids and daily medications, monitors post-surgical recoveries, cares for litters until they are eight weeks old and she currently manages a foster dog with diabetes insipidus. Slama also transports animals to veterinary appointments and participates in community adoption events.

Service is "part of who I am. I'm happiest when I'm contributing to something bigger than myself," she said.

At Essentia Health, Slama works in the ICU, where she has spent nearly three years caring for critically ill patients after starting her career on the medical-surgical floor in 2021. She quickly gravitated to neuro and stroke care — a passion that extends beyond the bedside in her service to the ICU Fall Champion and multiple committees, including Stroke Champion, the Daisy Committee, Falls Committee and Unit Based Council.

Slama's commitment to stroke care reaches into the community, too.

Alongside Essentia's stroke educator, Slama volunteers at outreach events like West Fargo's fifth-grade Save-a-Life boot camp, Salvation Army bell-ringing and stroke awareness nights at RedHawks baseball games.

Slama added "doctoral student" to her already full plate in 2023. She also teaches clinicals one day a week for Concordia College's nursing program. Watching students gain confidence is one of the most rewarding parts of her week, she said. Slama also balances serving as a sergeant in the North Dakota Army National Guard, where she supervises soldiers, teaches driver training and participates in military funeral honors.

Her secret? "Use a calendar — religiously," she said.